Separation anxieties! Is there no salvaging this?

[esheh195]

Hi everyone! I had posted this thread on the photo gallery while we made our first attempt at oatmeal honey soap from a recipe we came across online. http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=45881

We came back last night and finally took the loaves out of the mold. It came out cleanly from the acryllic mold and i even tried a few pieces on my hands and the result seemed good. But there is a decent amount of excess oil just under the surface. If I press anywhere except for the outer most edges on the top of the loaf, it gives a bit and some oil seeps out. Less than before but still a decent amount. There is also a darker center seen in the middle on all the ends.

I plugged in the recipe in soap calc and it seems to add up, I might've put about an ounce too much fragrance oil but I don't think it was enough to cause this issue. I did mess up and keep it in our spare room once it was molded and it was incredibly hot and humid in there that day. I wonder if that mistake, plus the fact that I see this can be a common problem with honey oatmeal soaps, is why this happened?

If so, do you think there's a chance this will resolve itself? I love the scent of the brambleberry fragrance OMH and am so disappointed it came out like this. If there's no salvaging it, should I attempt to remill it and will the fragrance hold?
Thanks so much for all the advice and help so far!

 

[Obsidian]

Its separated, most likely from over heating. As you know, thats common with honey soaps and the addition of the clove oil probably didn't help. I would have placed it in the fridge to prevent gel.

You probably should rebatch it and unfortunately, some of the scent will burn off. Good new is you won't needs as much FO to re-scent it.

Do both loafs have the oil layer? If you want to wait and see what happens, place the loaf in a pan or something that can catch the oil and go ahead and slice it. See how much oil actually leaks out. If its a very thin layer, it *may* be ok.
If its a deep layer of oil and a lot runs out then its definitely rebatch time and you will need to include any oil that runs out.

 

[esheh195]

Thanks for the quick feedback, Obsidian. I appreciate the help. Well, thankfully, I think the fragrance if anything is almost too strong, so if I rebatch then maybe by some miracle the scent will be juuust right!

It's been 6 days so I'm going to take your advice and cut in a pan and if it's as bad as I fear, then I'll break out the cheesegrater.

 

[seven]

honey and clove, perfect combo for overheating

have you cut the soap yet? if it only happens to a few bars, then no need to rebatch the whole loaf. i made a batch of soap with heater additives a while ago, prevent gel, and still 1 of the bars came up with a slight overheating tell tale (zombie teeth). the rest of the loaf was fine.

my suggestion is, next time you are making soap with heater additives (milks, honey, cloves, fruit purees, etc), try to prevent gel by putting it in the freezer for 24 hours. or you could also let gel happen but prevent overheating by placing the mold next to a fan (this trick is almost always successful for me).

 

[esheh195]

Next time I will def try the freezer or fan idea. I cut into the bars in a deep tray and the only bars salvagable were one on each end of the loaves, so I decided to try my first rebatch. I used the double bag in a pot of water method and just cut them. They lost a bit of the fragrance. Too bad bc I love the smell of the OMH and it's one of the few that I like heavy but it might actually be a bit easier on the nose now. I attached pictures of the whole project below.

I think I'm going for a nice fun bar next time that's easier to make. Maybe back to the 100% CO bar with a different scent...either rosemary and lemongrass EO's with a little touch of cedarwood or a more manly mix with a a mix of brambleberry FO's like Vetyver and Mahagony Spice..I have the leather too but I'm a bit scared to use it lol

 

[kharmon320]

Congratulations! Looks like a nice save.

 

[jules92207]

that is a nice save, looks really good.

 

[pamielynn]

Those "alien teeth" you see near the top of your cut bars is a dead giveaway of overheating and separation. And it's all concentrated in the middle, which is why you still have a partial gel.

Definitely go with the freezer next time. It may take longer for it to set up, once you take it out - here's where soaper's patience pays off, LOL - but you'll end up with a nice creamy looking bar and no separation.

Nice rebatch, BTW!

 

[seven]

great save!

btw, i notice that you are using a hdpe mold. did you grease it first with petroleum jelly or mineral oil? can you give me some tips and tricks for easy unmolding with hdpe please